An All Around Bad Day
by SP-in-Sirius-Denial
Summary: James is having the kind of day where he feels like the world is against him, even his friends. James/Lily. Please read and review and remember that stories are often better than their summaries.


_**So I haven't written a fanfic in a very long time. I was feeling bored this weekend and this happened. Just thought I'd share because who doesn't like a nice Lily/James story? Please read and review. I want to know what you think!**_

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**An All Around Bad Day**

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James Potter was not happy. He stormed through the grounds of Hogwarts trying to get away from everyone he knew as quickly as he could. He looked behind him and saw that no one had decided to follow – a fact that brought him both relief and a little bit of sadness.

Earlier that day, it seemed everyone had wanted a piece of him. Sirius had called him out as being a "spoiled son of a bitch" after he purposely snapped his broomstick over his knee so his parents would buy him a new one. What Sirius didn't understand was the broom was already broken, as it refused to accelerate earlier that morning. And to top it off, he had really loved that broom and was trying to hide his sadness at its loss by bragging about the new broom he'd be getting.

Remus and Peter were shunning him for a jab he had made about Peter's weight. Perhaps, he would have kept his comments to himself had Peter not poked some fun at James' hair, his glasses, and the large zit ready to pop on his chin.

Worst of all, was Lily, whom he had just started officially dating one month prior. She had broken up with him on the fly. No reason given.

To top it all off, they were all currently upstairs playing gobstones together, and they hadn't let him join in. Now, at seventeen it may seem a little 'immature' to get upset over being left out of a board game, but it was safe to say he had already had a pretty bad day and his feelings and ego were hurting.

James, thus, wanted to get away from Hogwarts and all of the people who no longer seemed to want to be around him. He climbed up the craggy hillside that formed a cliff at the far end of the great lake, enjoying the slight risk of death that he met up there.

He heard some rocks rattling below him and turned around, expecting to see one of his friends there. No one was around, he must have loosened some rocks and sent them rolling down.

James climbed over another ledge and sat down on a flat rock, taking in the beautiful view of the lake, and Hogwarts looming behind it.

Staring out, he felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. Never before had everyone seemed to be against him. Sirius had a tendency to irritate people now and then. There had been an entire year where Remus sketched us all out. And Peter, well, Peter was the odd duck all of the time. Suddenly James was feeling for Peter.

"I guess today, you can call me Wormtail," James mumbled sadly.

"Wormtail," came a soft voice behind him.

James turned sharply to see who had spoken to him. It was Lily, clutching his invisibility cloak in both hands, wringing it nervously.

"What do you want?" James asked grudgingly, turning back to look at the school.

"Just wanted to make sure you were alright. You looked pretty upset when you left. I'm sorry…we were being really stupid and immature….and mean."

"Whatever," James mumbled. "I'm fine. I just want to be alone."

"I'm really sorry…about earlier, too."

"Oh you mean when you broke up with me and didn't tell me why? Yeah, thanks for that. Seriously, Lily, just go away," James replied, his voice hard and cold.

"Fine," Lily sighed. She draped his invisibility cloak over his shoulder. "You dropped this by the way."

James listened to Lily's footsteps as she began to descend the rocky hill.

He pulled the cloak off his shoulder and ran his fingers through the silky fabric. "My only friend," he mumbled, feeling even worse about himself then he had moments before.

Suddenly he heard the roar of rocks as they began to slide and crash into the lake, followed by a shrill scream. James jumped to his feet. Then there was a moment of silence followed by "JAMES!!"

He rushed to the edge of the cliff and looked down. Lily was sitting on a ledge barely two feet wide, about 7 feet below the rocky path. One of her legs was dangling off the ledge, and she was holding on to a tree root that was poking out of the rocky wall to keep balanced.

"Are you okay?" James called down to her.

"I think I'm fine! But I'm stuck! I can't get out of here!" She called up to him, terrified.

"Okay – don't move! Keep holding onto that!"

James quickly descended the rocky path until he reached the spot where she had fallen.

"Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

"What's the easy way?"

"I levitate you out of there."

"Meaning I float around a couple 100 meters over the great lake for a few seconds?"

James shrugged. "I won't drop you."

"What's the hard way?" she asked

"I transfigure this little stick into a piece of rope and pull you out," he replied, holding up a brittle looking stick.

Lily sighed. "I don't like either of these options."

"Fine you can stay down there," James said and turned away from her, making to continue down the path.

"James!" she yelled shrilly. "Let's do the easy way. But what if you drop me?"

"I won't drop you!" James hissed again. "Have a little faith in me for once! Besides you've seen me do this to Snape before. You know I can levitate a human."

"Okay – let's do it." She said

James pointed his wand at Lily and mumbled the incantation, Lily rose up in the air. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she was making a highpitched squeeling sound. James guided her up to where he stood and set her down gently as far from the ledge as she could get. As her weight was set back on her feet Lily gasped and stumbled towards James. He caught her elbows and she leaned into him.

"What is it?"

"My ankle," she hissed.

"You can't put your weight on it?"

Lily shook her head, trying not to cry. "I think it's broken."

James sighed, clearly irritated. Lily looked into his face sharply. "I'm sorry my broken ankle puts a damper on your day!"

"I'm just having a really shit day in general, Lily. You shouldn't have followed me up here."

"Well, maybe I didn't know you had a death wish!"

James shook his head. "I don't want to fight with you." He twisted around so she was now leaning on his back for support. "Put your arms around my neck." Lily obeyed and James hoisted her up into a piggyback. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Lily responded.

In silence, James began to move carefully down the rocky hillside. He was terrified that he'd slip and hurt Lily even more and/or embarrass himself.

Once he reached the flat, grassy edge of the lake James broke the silence.

"Why?"

Lily, who's head had been resting against his, perked up at the idea of conversation asked, "Why what?"

"Why did you break up with me? What did I do wrong?" he asked sadly.

"James," Lily sighed, rolling her head away from him. "I'm in pain…I really don't want to get into this right now."

"Fine," James said bitterly and continued walking towards the school. Lily repositioned her head so that she could see James' profile. His eyes were glazed with tears and his jaw continuously popped in and out as he clenched it. She could feel his sad, broken heart beating through his shirt. Lily felt her heart constrict for him, but she wasn't prepared to reveal herself just yet.

In silence, James carried her the rest of the way to the school. He brought her up to the hospital wing and gently set her down on one of the beds. He scooped her injured leg up and set it gently on a pillow. Taking one last glance at her, he rang the bell beside the bed so Madam Pomfrey would attend to her. Without another word, James fled the hospital wing.

James ran his fingers through his hair agitatedly as he made his way back to Gryffindor Tower. He usually liked to flirt with the portrait of the fat lady before giving her the password, but today he was not in the mood. Her ego bruised, she let James in after he mumbled it to her.

Sirius, Remus, and Peter were sitting in a corner of the room talking. When they saw him their conversation ceased. James felt more tears build behind his eyes and he rushed to the spiral staircase.

He sat on his bed and took a few deep breaths, trying to hold back his ridiculous, childish tears.

The door behind him creaked open, but he didn't care to see who it was. "I'm sorry about earlier, mate. You're not spoiled…I know you're really thankful for everything you have. I'm just having an off day."

"S'okay, Sirius." James whispered.

"No it's really, not. I snapped at Remus and Pete earlier, too. Sent them into a bad mood too, I s'pose. I'm just uptight about this whole – leaving Hogwarts for good thing. It's gotten to me. Remus helped me figure this all out."

James nodded. "I really loved that old broom, you know?" He said shakily.

"I know you did, mate." Sirius walked further into the room and faced James. Again, his jaw was working and tears were pooling in his eyes.

"James Potter, are you crying?" Sirius asked incredulously. In the seven years he had known James he had never seen him cry.

"Not yet," James croaked. A second later a tear broke free and ran jaggedly down his cheek. His lips trembled, "Now I am."

Sirius laughed and sat beside his friend. He causally slung an arm over his neck and patted his chest comfortingly.

"Why so sad?" he asked.

James shielded his face with a hand and sucked in a few deep breaths to try to calm himself. Sirius patted him a few more times for support.

Frantically James replied, "Lily dumped me this morning. One month in and she dumps me. Wouldn't even tell me why. So I go out for a fly and my fucking broom is broken. Wouldn't go more than 10 kph! Then I try to pretend its all okay and you call me a spoiled SOB! Then I go have a chat with Pete and Remus, and all Pete can do is pick on my hair and glasses…and this planet on my chin! SO I call him a fat bastard and Remus gives me shit about being mean to him!"

"And then we wouldn't let you play Gobstones…"

"Yeah! What the Hell was that? Bloody wankers..." James sniffed hard and then sighed.

"I'm sorry mate. I didn't know Lily dumped you. I'd never have gone off on you like that had I known…And it's my fault Pete and Remus were on edge."

"Well that's not even the end of it…I go to get away from everyone, climbed the rocks across the lake and Lily follows me up there!" James proceeded to tell Sirius every detail of that ordeal. "And it was just too much to take, you know?"

"I know mate," Sirius said kindly. "Is Lily okay now?"

James shrugged and wiped his eyes dry with his sleeve. "Dunno, I dumped her in the hospital wing and booked it up here to calm down."

"You just left your injured girlfriend in the hospital wing?"

"Ex-girlfriend, whose life I saved and carried all the way back to the hospital, all the while she was not that nice to me. She's not as light as she looks, you know. She's lucky I took her that far."

Sirius laughed. "Anything I can do to cheer you up?"

"Knowing you don't think I'm a bloody wanker and listening to me whine and moan helped an inkling…maybe tomorrow Peter and Remus can decide to be nice to me, too."

"They're fine with you now…We were just talking downstairs. Everyone was having a bad day and you ended up being the big target…probably because you're always so god damned happy."

"I'm not really always happy, you know."

"I know James."

"I just keep it hidden better than the rest of you clowns."

Sirius ruffled James's hair affectionately.

"I think you should go make sure Lily's okay."

James shook his head adamantly. "She won't talk to me. She won't tell me what I did."

"Well whatever you did, not sticking by her when she hurt herself is not going to make things better."

Sighing, James glared at Sirius. "I guess you're right. I hate it when you're right."

Sirius beamed.

"Okay, well before I go…do you want to talk about whatever's turned you into a jackass today?"

He shook his head, "No thanks. I already unleashed that info on Remus. I'd share it with you if it were more interesting."

James laughed lightly and got to his feet. "Wish me luck!"

"Good luck Prongs."

When James entered the hospital wing, he saw Lily lying on the bed he left her on, staring up at the ceiling. Her body was shaking and tears were streaming down her cheeks.

Silently he made his way over to her and sat on the edge of her bed. She stared at him for a moment and then sat up and wrapped her arms around his neck, crying into his shoulder. James wrapped his arms around her too and kissed the side of her head. They stayed there in silence a moment until Lily's tears stopped.

With his arms still around her, James asked quietly, "What did I do? You have to tell me, Lily…this isn't fair."

"I know James…but you didn't do anything. You've been absolutely 100 percent perfect. It's me."

James pulled away and looked into her tear streaked face. "Are you giving me the 'It's not you, it's me' excuse? Seriously?" he asked in astonishment.

"No – well kind of. Let me explain, okay."

"Okay," James whispered.

"So we've been together for a month now…and before that there was like one week when we were friends. And now I'm just…I'm just…"

"You're just what," James asked, flinching in anticipation of a major blow to his ego.

"I'm just obsessed with you," she burst out.

James look of fear slipped into a smile. "You're obsessed with me?"

Lily shielded her face in embarrassment. "Yes! And it really scares me James. I've never felt this way before about anyone. I felt like it was all happening too fast. So this morning I freaked and ended it. And just now…I was just laying here thinking about what a nutter I was for ruining something so perfect…scared, that it was the biggest mistake of my life."

"So you regret doing it?" James asked kindly.

She nodded, melting his soul with her green eyes.

"Well then, Lily Evans…for probably the three-hundred-fifty-eighth time. Will you PLEASE go out with me?"

Lily laughed and pulled James back towards her, pressing her lips softly to his. They shared a tender kiss. James pulled away. "Is that a yes?"

"Absolutely."

"Good…I'm sorry I just dumped you here earlier. I needed Sirius to talk some sense into me."

"I deserved it."

"How's your ankle?"

"It was broken…but Pomfrey fixed it up for me. I've got about 5 more minutes of bed rest and it should be good as new.

"This day sure shaped up to be better than it began," Lily said as she cuddled up against James on the hospital bed."

"Tell me about it," James replied, pressing a kiss onto Lily's cheek. "Love you, Evans."

Lily smiled up at him and for the first time said back, "Love you Potter."

And that statement turned the worst day of James' life into the best.

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_**And that's all she wrote...Thanks for reading -- Hope you enjoyed it :)**_


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